Network server platform for a hybrid fiber twisted pair local loop network service architecture

ABSTRACT

This invention provides a network server platform forming part of a new local loop network architecture designed to overcome the limitations of current art local access loop technologies. This invention allows end users to seamlessly connect to the numerous disparate networks in order to access the multiplicity of services that these networks have to offer. The network server platform allows interconnection between networks with varying networking protocols. The network server platform is a key component of the new architecture and interacts to allow for easy and seamless integration with network components on both the local access level as well as the core network. The network server platform offers external networking capabilities to the local access network. As a result, the local access network terminates on the network server platform. The network server platform provides subscribers or end users the capabilities to access services from a multiplicity of disparate networks offering a variety of services.

This application is a divisional of 09/001582 filed Dec. 31, 1997.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention discloses a network server platform that terminates thenetwork layer of the local access loop and handles connection managementbetween the local access facilities and the communications network formaintaining services for those facilities.

BACKGROUND

As deregulation of the telephone industry continues and as companiesprepare to enter the local telephone access market, there is a need tooffer new and innovative services that distinguish common carriers fromtheir competitors. This cannot be accomplished without introducing newlocal access network architectures that will be able to support thesenew and innovative services.

Conventionally, customer premises telephone and/or data connectionscontain splitters for separating analog voice calls from other dataservices such as Ethernet transported over digital subscriber line (DSL)modems. Voice band data and voice signals are sent through acommunications switch in a central or local office to an interexchangecarrier or Internet service provider. DSL data is sent through a digitalsubscriber loop asynchronous mode (DSLAM) switch which may include arouter. The DSLAM switch connects many lines and routes the digital datato a telephone company's digital switch.

A major problem with this configuration is that interexchange carriersattempting to penetrate the local telephone company's territory mustlease trunk lines from the local telephone company switch to theinterexchange company's network for digital traffic. Furthermore, theInternet service provider must lease a modem from the local phonecompany in the DSLAM switch and route its data through the local phonecompany's digital switch. Thus, the local phone company leases and/orprovides a significant amount of equipment, driving up the cost of entryfor any other company trying to provide local telephone services andmaking it difficult for the interexchange companies to differentiatetheir services. Furthermore, since DSL modem technology is notstandardized, in order to ensure compatibility, the DSL modem providedby the local telephone company must also be provided to the end user inthe customer premises equipment (CPE). Additionally, since the networkis not completely controlled by the interexchange companies, it isdifficult for the interexchange companies to provide data at committeddelivery rates. Any performance improvements implemented by theinterexchange companies may not be realized by their customers, becausethe capabilities of the local telephone company equipment may or may notmeet their performance needs. Thus, it is difficult for theinterexchange companies to convince potential customers to switch totheir equipment or to use their services. These factors ensure thecontinued market presence of the local telephone company.

As part of this system, there is a need for improved architectures,services and equipment utilized to distinguish the interexchangecompanies' products and services. Current local access networktopologies suffer from major drawbacks which limit their applicationsand their ability to expand with changing technology. Interexchangecompanies are restricted by the current infrastructure and are limitedin the number and variety of new and enhanced services that can beoffered to end users. In the expansion of new services, end users desirea seamless connect to the numerous disparate networks in order to accessthe multiplicity of services that these networks have to offer. Thenetwork server platform allows interconnection between networks withvarying networking protocols.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to provide an improved network, it is desirable for theinterexchange companies to have access to at least one of thetwisted-pair lines or alternate wireless facility connecting each of theindividual users to the local telephone network before the lines arerouted through the conventional local telephone network equipment. It ispreferable to have access to these lines prior to the splitter and modemtechnology offered by the local service providers. By having access tothe twisted-pair wires entering the customer's premises, interexchangecompanies can differentiate their services by providing higherbandwidth, improving the capabilities of the customer premisesequipment, and lowering overall system costs to the customer byproviding competitive service alternatives.

The new architecture may utilize a video phone and/or other devices toprovide new services to an end user; an intelligent services director(ISD) disposed near the customer's premises for multiplexing andcoordinating many digital services onto a single twisted-pair line; afacilities management platform (FMP) disposed in the local telephonenetwork's central office for routing data to an appropriateinterexchange company network; and a network server platform (NSP)coupled to the FMP for providing new and innovative services to thecustomer and for distinguishing services provided by the interexchangecompanies from those services provided by the local telephone network.

As part of this system, one aspect of the invention provides a networkserver platform forming part of a new local loop network architecturedesigned to overcome the limitations of current art local access looptechnologies. This invention allows end users to seamlessly connect tothe numerous disparate networks in order to access the multiplicity ofservices that these networks have to offer. The network server platformallows interconnection between networks with varying networkingprotocols.

The network server platform is a key component of the new architectureand interacts to allow for easy and seamless integration with networkcomponents on both the local access level as well as the core network.The network server platform offers external networking capabilities tothe local access network. As a result, the local access networkterminates on the network server platform. The network server platformprovides subscribers or end users the capabilities to access servicesfrom a multiplicity of disparate networks offering a variety ofservices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary of the invention, as well as the followingdetailed description of preferred embodiments, is better understood whenread in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are includedby way of example, and not by way of limitation with regard to theclaimed invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a hybrid fiber twisted pair localloop architecture.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an intelligent servicesdirector consistent with the architecture shown in FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate an embodiment of a video phone consistentwith the architecture shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram of an embodiment of a facilities managementplatform consistent with the architecture shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4B illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a network serverplatform consistent with the architecture shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 illustrates a diagram of the network server platform internalarchitecture;

FIG. 6 illustrates a diagram of the network server platform;

FIG. 7 illustrates a diagram of the network server platform buildingblocks;

FIG. 8 illustrates a diagram of the network server platform softwarelayer architecture;

FIG. 9 illustrates a diagram of the application server platform softwarearchitecture;

FIG. 10 illustrates a diagram of the operations, administration,maintenance and provision services in the server platform softwarearchitecture;

FIG. 11 illustrates a diagram of a single network server platformconnected to a plurality of facilities management platforms that are inturn connected to a plurality of intelligent services directors.

FIG. 12 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services voice protocolstack option from the facilities management platform to the network;

FIG. 13 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services data protocolstack from the facilities management platform to the network;

FIG. 14 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services protocol stackfor voice services (Option 1) from the intelligent services director tothe public switched telephone network using asynchronous transfer mode;

FIG. 15 illustrates a diagram of the protocol stack for voice services(Option 2) from the intelligent services director to the public switchedtelephone network using a TR303 interface;

FIG. 16 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services architectureprotocol stack for data services using point-to-point protocol inasynchronous transfer mode;

FIG. 17 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services protocol stackfor data services using asynchronous transfer mode signaling;

FIG. 18 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services architectureemploying a virtual private data network “ExtraNet”;

FIG. 19 illustrates a diagram of systems and services architecture ofthe virtual private data network “ExtraNet” protocol;

FIG. 20 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services architectureuser service menu launcher;

FIG. 21 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services architectureuser service application manager;

FIG. 22 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services architecturefor basic voice;

FIG. 23 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services architecturefor Internet connectivity;

FIG. 24 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services architecturefor AT&T bill viewing services;

FIG. 25 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services architecturedescribing the telecommute over MetroLan using a frame relay backbone;

FIG. 26 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services architecturedescribing the telecommute over MetroLan using the Internet;

FIG. 27 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services architecturefor directory services employing network server platform hosting;

FIG. 28 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services architecturefor video delivery services employing network server platform hosting;and

FIG. 29 illustrates a diagram of the systems and services architecturefor information pushing services and information auto-delivery services.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following applications, filed concurrently herewith, are herebyincorporated by reference:

1. A Hybrid Fiber Twisted-pair Local Loop Network Service Architecture(U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,360, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberget al.);

2. Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation for use in the Hybrid Fiber Twisted-pairLocal Loop Network Service Architecture (U.S. application Ser. No.09/001,425, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

3. The VideoPhone (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,905, filed Dec. 31,1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

4. VideoPhone Privacy Activator (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,909,filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

5. VideoPhone Form Factor (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,583, filedDec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

6. VideoPhone Centrally Controlled User Interface With User SelectableOptions (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,576, filed Dec. 31, 1997 ofGerszberg et al.);

7. VideoPhone User Interface Having Multiple Menu Hierarchies (U.S.application Ser. No. 09/001,908, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg etal.);

8. VideoPhone Blocker (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,353, filed Dec.31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

9. VideoPhone Inter-com for Extension Phones (U.S. application Ser. No.09/001,358, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

10. Advertising Screen Saver (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,574,filed Dec. 31, 1997);

11. VideoPhone FlexiView Advertising (U.S. application Ser. No.09/001,906, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

12. VideoPhone Multimedia Announcement Answering Machine (U.S.application Ser. No. 09/001,911, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et.al.);

13. VideoPhone Multimedia Announcement Message Toolkit (U.S. applicationSer. No. 09/001,345, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

14. VideoPhone Multimedia Video Message Reception (U.S. application Ser.No. 09/001,362, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

15. VideoPhone Multimedia Interactive Corporate Menu Answering MachineAnnouncement (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,574, filed Dec. 31, 1997of Gerszberg et al.);

16. VideoPhone Multimedia Interactive On-Hold Information Menus (U.S.application Ser. No. 09/001,356, filed Dec. 31, 1997);

17. VideoPhone Advertisement When Calling Video Non-enabled VideoPhoneUsers (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,361, filed Dec. 31, 1997 ofGerszberg et al.);

18. Motion Detection Advertising (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,355,filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

19. Interactive Commercials (U.S. application Ser. No. 08/001,578, filedDec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et. al.);

20. VideoPhone Electronic Catalogue Service (U.S. Pat. No. 5,970,473 ofGerszberg et al.);

21. A Facilities Management Platform For Hybrid Fiber Twisted-pair LocalLoop Network, Service Architecture (U.S. application Ser. No.09/001,422, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Barzegar et al.);

22. Life Line Support for Multiple Service Access on Single Twisted-pair(U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,343, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Barzegaret al.);

23. A Network Server Platform for a Hybrid Fiber Twisted Pair Local LoopNetwork Service Architecture (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,582,filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

24. A Communication Server Apparatus For Interactive Commercial Service(U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,344, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberget al.);

25. NSP Multicast, PPV Server (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,580,filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

26. NSP Internet, JAVA Server and VideoPhone Application Server (U.S.application Ser. No. 09/001,354, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg etal.);

27. NSP WAN Interconnectivity Services for Corporate Telecommuters (U.S.application Ser. No. 09/001,540, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg etal.);

28. NSP Telephone Directory White-Yellow Page Services (U.S. applicationSer. No. 09/001,426, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

29. NSP Integrated Billing System For NSP services and Telephoneservices (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,359, filed Dec. 31, 1997 ofGerszberg et al.);

30. Network Server Platform/Facility Management Platform Caching Server(U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,419, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberget al.);

31. An Integrated Services Director (ISD) for HFTP Local Loop NetworkService Architecture (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,417, filed Dec.31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

32. ISD and VideoPhone Customer Premise Network (U.S. application Ser.No. 08/001,418, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

33. ISD Wireless Network (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,363, filedDec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

34. ISD Controlled Set-Top Box (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,424,filed Dec. 31, 1997, of Gerszberg et al.);

35. Integrated Remote Control and Phone (U.S. application Ser. No.09/001,423, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

36. Integrated Remote Control and Phone User Interface (U.S. applicationSer. No. 09/001,420, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

37. Integrated Remote Control and Phone Form Factor (U.S. applicationSer. No. 09/001,910, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

38. VideoPhone Mail Machine (U.S. provisional application Ser. No.60/070,104, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

39. Restaurant Ordering Via VideoPhone (U.S. provisional applicationSer. No. 60/070,121, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al.);

40. Ticket Ordering Via VideoPhone (U.S. provisional application Ser.No. 60/070,103, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gerszberg et al., numbers 38-40having been converted to regular U.S. application Ser. No. 09/218,171,filed Dec. 22, 1998);

41. Multi-Channel Parallel/Serial Concatenated Convolutional Codes AndTrellis Coded Modulation Encode/Decoder (U.S. application Ser. No.09/001,342, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Gelblum et al.);

42. Spread Spectrum Bit Allocation Algorithm (U.S. application Ser. No.09/010,842, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Shively et al.);

43. Digital Channelizer With Arbitrary Output Frequency (U.S.application Ser. No. 09/010,581, filed Dec. 31, 1997 of Helms et al.);

44. Method and Apparatus For Allocating Data Via Discrete Multiple Tones(U.S. application Ser. No. 08/997,167 filed Dec. 22, 1997 ofSankaranarayanan et al);

45. Method and Apparatus For Reducing Near-End Cross Talk In DiscreteMulti-Tone Modulators/Demodulators (U.S. application Ser. No. 08/997,176filed Dec. 22, 1997, of Helms, et al.).

The present application is number 23 on this list.

In addition, the following two patent applications are incorporated byreference:

1. U.S. patent application 08/943,312 filed Oct. 14, 1997 entitledWideband Communication System for the Home, to Robert R. Miller, II andJesse E. Russell, and

2. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/858,170, filed May 14, 1997,entitled Wide Band Transmission Through Wire, to Robert R. Miller, II,Jesse E. Russell and Richard R. Shively.

Referring to FIG. 1, a first exemplary communication networkarchitecture employing a hybrid fiber, twisted-pair (HFTP) local loop 1architecture is shown. An intelligent services director (ISD) 22 may becoupled to a central office 34 via a twisted-pair wire, hybrid fiberinterconnection, wireless and/or other customer connection 30, aconnector block 26, and/or a main distribution frame (MDF) 28. The ISD22 and the central or local office 34 may communicate with each otherusing, for example, framed, time division, frequency-division,synchronous, asynchronous and/or spread spectrum formats, but inexemplary embodiments uses DSL modem technology. The central office 34preferably includes a facilities management platform (FMP) 32 forprocessing data exchanged across the customer connection 30. The FMP 32may be configured to separate the plain old telephone service (POTS)from the remainder of the data on the customer connection 30 using, forexample, a tethered virtual radio channel (TVRC) modem (shown in FIG.4A). The remaining data may be output to a high speed backbone network(e.g., a fiber-optic network) such as an asynchronous transfer mode(ATM) switching network. The analog POTS data may be output directly toa public switch telephone network (PSTN) 46, and/or it may be digitized,routed through the high speed backbone network, and then output to thePSTN 46.

The FMP 32 may process data and/or analog/digital voice between customerpremise equipment (CPE) 10 and any number of networks. For example, theFMP 32 may be interconnected with a synchronous optical network (SONET)42 for interconnection to any number of additional networks such as anInterSpan backbone 48, the PSTN 46, a public switch switching network(e.g. call setup SS7-type network 44), and/or a network server platform(NSP) 36. Alternatively, the FMP 32 may be directly connected to any ofthese networks. One or more FMPs 32 may be connected directly to thehigh speed backbone network (e.g., direct fiber connection with theSONET network 42) or they may be linked via a trunk line (e.g., trunks40 or 42) to one or more additional networks.

The NSP 36 may provide a massive cache storage for various informationthat may be provided across the SONET net 42 to the FMP 32 and out tothe ISD 22. The NSP 36 and the FMP 32 may collectively define an accessnetwork server complex 38. The NSP 36 may be interconnected withmultiple FMPs 32. Furthermore, each FMP 32 may interconnect with one ormore ISDs 22. The NSP 36 may be located anywhere but is preferablylocated in a point-of-presence (POP) facility. The NSP 36 may furtheract as a gateway to, for example, any number of additional services.

The ISD 22 may be interconnected to various devices such as a videophone130, other digital phones 18, set-top devices, computers, and/or otherdevices comprising the customer premise equipment 10. The customerpremise equipment may individually or collectively serve as a localnetwork computer at the customer site. Application applets may bedownloaded from the NSP 36 into some or all of the individual deviceswithin the customer premise equipment 10. Where applets are provided bythe NSP 36, the programming of the applets may be updated such that theapplets are continually configured to the latest software version by theinterexchange carrier. In this way, the CPE 10 may be kept up to date bysimply re-loading updated applets. In addition, certain applets may beresident on any of the CPE 10. These resident applets may beperiodically reinitialized by simply sending a request from, forexample, a digital phone 18 and/or a videophone 130 to the FMP 32 andthereafter to the NSP 36 for reinitialization and downloading of newapplets. To ensure widespread availability of the new features madepossible by the present architecture, the customer premise equipment maybe provided to end users either at a subsidized cost or given away forfree, with the cost of the equipment being amortized over the servicessold to the user through the equipment.

Referring to FIG. 2, the ISD 22 may connect with a variety of devicesincluding analog and digital voice telephones 15, 18; digitalvideophones 130, devices for monitoring home security, meter readingdevices (not shown), utilities devices/energy management facilities (notshown), facsimile devices 16, personal computers 14, and/or otherdigital or analog devices. Some or all of these devices may be connectedwith the ISD 22 via any suitable mechanism such as a single and/ormultiple twisted-pair wires and/or a wireless connection. For example, anumber of digital devices may be multi-dropped on a single twisted-pairconnection. Similarly, analog phones and other analog devices may bemulti-dropped using conventional techniques.

The ISD 22 may be located within the home/business or mounted exteriorto the home/business. The ISD 22 may operate from electrical powersupplied by the local or central office 34 and/or from the customer'spower supplied by the customer's power company. Where the ISD 22includes a modem, it may be desirable to power the ISD 22 withsupplemental power from the home in order to provide sufficient power toenable the optimal operation of the modem.

As shown in FIG. 2, in some embodiments the ISD 22 may include acontroller 100 which may have any of a variety of elements such as acentral processing unit 102, a DRAM 103, an SRAM 104, a ROM 105 and/oran Internet protocol (IP) bridge router 106 connecting the controller100 to a system bus 111. The system bus 111 may be connected with avariety of network interface devices 110. The network interface devices110 may be variously configured to include an integrated servicesdigital network (ISDN) interface 113, an Ethernet interface 119 (e.g.,for 28.8 kbps data, 56 kbps data, or ISDN), an IEEE 1394 “fire wire”interface 112 (e.g., for a digital videodisc device (DVD)), a TVRC modeminterface 114 (e.g., for a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem), aresidential interface 114, (e.g., standard POTS phone systems such astip ring), a business interface 116 (e.g., a T1 line and/or PABXinterface), a radio frequency (RF) audio/video interface 120 (e.g., acable television connection), and a cordless phone interface 123 (e.g.,a 900 MHZ transceiver). Connected to one of the network interfacesand/or the system bus 111 may be any number of devices such as an audiointerface 122 (e.g., for digital audio, digital telephones, digitalaudio tape (DAT) recorders/players, music for restaurants, MIDIinterface, DVD, etc.), a digital phone 121, a videophone/user interface130, a television set-top device 131 and/or other devices. Where thenetwork interface is utilized, it may be desirable to use, for example,the IEEE 1394 interface 112 and/or the Ethernet interface 119.

A lifeline 126 may be provided for continuous telephone service in theevent of a power failure at the CPE 10. The lifeline 126 may be utilizedto connect the ISD 22 to the local telecommunications company's centraloffice 34 and, in particular, to the FMP 32 located in the centraloffice 34.

The ISD may be variously configured to provide any number of suitableservices. For example, the ISD 22 may offer high fidelity radio channelsby allowing the user to select a particular channel and obtaining adigitized radio channel from a remote location and outputting thedigital audio, for example, on audio interface 122, video phone 130,and/or digital phones 121. A digital telephone may be connected to theaudio interface 122 such that a user may select any one of a number ofdigital audio service channels by simply having the user push a digitalaudio service channel button on the telephone and have the speaker phoneoutput particular channels. The telephone may be preprogrammed toprovide the digital audio channels at a particular time, such as a wakeup call for bedroom mounted telephone, or elsewhere in the house. Theuser may select any number of services on the video phone and/or otheruser interface such as a cable set-top device. These services mayinclude any number of suitable services such as weather, headlines inthe news, stock quotes, neighborhood community services information,ticket information, restaurant information, service directories (e.g.,yellow pages), call conferencing, billing systems, mailing systems,coupons, advertisements, maps, classes, Internet, pay-per-view (PPV),and/or other services using any suitable user interface such as theaudio interface 122, the video phone/user interface 130, digital phones,121 and/or another suitable device such as a set top device 131.

In further embodiments, the ISD 22 may be configured as an IP proxyserver such that each of the devices connected to the server utilizestransmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) protocol. Thisconfiguration allows any device associated with the ISD to access theInternet via an IP connection through the FMP 32. Where the ISD 22 isconfigured as an IP proxy server, it may accommodate additional devicesthat do not support the TCP/IP protocol. In this embodiment, the ISD 22may have a proprietary or conventional interface connecting the ISD 22to any associated device such as to the set top box 131, the personalcomputer 14, the video telephone 130, the digital telephone 18, and/orsome other end user device.

In still further embodiments, the ISD 22 may be compatible withmulticast broadcast services where multicast information is broadcast bya central location and/or other server on one of the networks connectedto the FMP 32, e.g., an ATM-switched network. The ISD 22 may downloadthe multicast information via the FMP 32 to any of the devices connectedto the ISD 22. The ISD 22 and/or CPE 10 devices may selectively filterthe information in accordance with a specific customer user'spreferences. For example, one user may select all country musicbroadcasts on a particular day while another user may select financialinformation. The ISD 22 and/or any of the CPE 10 devices may also beprogrammed to store information representing users' preferences and/orthe received uni-cast or multicast information in memory or otherstorage media for later replay. Thus, for example, video clips or moviesmay be multicast to all customers in the community with certain usersbeing preconfigured to select the desired video clip/movie in real timefor immediate viewing and/or into storage for later viewing.

Referring to FIG. 3A, a videophone 130 may include a touch screendisplay 141 and soft keys 142 around the perimeter of the display 141.The display may be responsive to touch, pressure, and/or light input.Some or all of the soft keys 142 may be programmable and may vary infunction depending upon, for example, the applet being run by thevideophone 130. The function of each soft key may be displayed next tothe key on the display 141. The functions of the soft keys 142 may alsobe manually changed by the user by pressing scroll buttons 143. Thevideophone 140 may also include a handset 144 (which may be connectedvia a cord or wireless connection to the rest of the videophone and/ordirectly to the ISD), a keypad 150, a video camera 145, a credit cardreader 146, a smart card slot 147, a microphone 149, a motion and/orlight detector 148, built-in speaker(s) 155, a printer/scanner/facsimile152, and/or external speakers 154 (e.g., stereo speakers). A keyboard153 and/or a postage scale 151 may also be connected to the videophone130. Any or all of the above-mentioned items may be integrated with thevideophone unit itself or may be physically separate from the videophoneunit. A block diagram of the video phone unit is shown in FIG. 3B.Referring to FIG. 3B, in addition to the items above, the video phone130 may also include a signal processor 171, high speed interfacecircuitry 172, memory 173, power supply 174, all interconnected via acontroller 170.

When the videophone 130 is used as a video telephone, the display 141may include one or more video window(s) 160 for viewing a person to whoma user is speaking and/or showing the picture seen by the person on theother end of the video phone. The display may also include adialed-telephone-number window 161 for displaying the phone numberdialed, a virtual keypad 162, a virtual buttons 163 for performingvarious telephone functions, service directory icons 165, a mail icon164, and/or various other service icons 166 which may be used, forexample, for obtaining coupons or connecting with an operator. Any orall of these items may be displayed as virtual buttons and/or graphicicons and may be arranged in any combination. Additionally, any numberof other display features may be shown on the video phone in accordancewith one or more of the applications incorporated by reference below.

Referring to FIG. 4A, the FMP 32 may coordinate the flow of datapackets, separate voice signals from other signals, perform linemonitoring and switching functions, and/or convert between analog anddigital signals. The FMP 32 may process data sent from the CPE 10 to thecentral or local office 34 by separating and reconstructing analog voicesignals, data, and control frames. The FMP 32 may process data sent fromthe central or local office 34 to the CPE 10 by separating controlmessages from user information, and configure this information intosegments that for transport across the digital subscriber loop. The FMP32 may also terminate the link layer associated with the digitalsubscriber loop.

In some embodiments, the FMP 32 may include an access module 70 and adigital loop carrier 87. The access module 70 may include a lineprotector 71, a cross-connector 73, a plurality of TVRC modems 80, aplurality of digital filters 82, a controller multiplexer 84, and/or arouter and facilities interface 86. The digital loop carrier 87 mayinclude a plurality of line cards 96, a time domain multiplexing (TDM)multiplexor (MUX) 88, a TDM bus 90, a controller 92, and/or a facilitiesinterface 94.

During normal operations, digital signals on the customer connection 30(e.g., twisted-pair lines) containing both voice and data may bereceived by the TVRC modems 80 via the line protector 71 and thecross-connector 73. Preferably, the line protector 71 includes lightningblocks for grounding power surges due to lightning or other strayvoltage surges. The TVRC modems 80 may send the digital voice and/ordata signals to the controller multiplexor 84 and the digital filters82. The digital filters 82 may separate the voice signals from thedigital data signals, and the controller multiplexor 84 may thenmultiplex the voice signals and/or data signals received from thedigital filters 82. The controller multiplexor 84 may then sendmultiplexed voice signals to the TDM MUX 88 and the data signals to therouter and facilities interface 86 for transmission to one or moreexternal networks. The TDM MUX 88 may multiplex the voice signals fromthe controller multiplexor 84 and/or send the voice signals to the TDMbus 90, which may then send the digital voice signals to the controller92 and then to the facilities interface 94 for transmission to one ormore external networks. Both the router and facilities interface 86 andthe facilities interface 94 may convert between electrical signals andoptical signals when a fiber optic link is utilized.

When there is a failure of the digital data link (e.g., if there is afailure of the TVRC modems 80 at the FMP 32 or the TVRC modem 114 at theISD 22), only analog voice signals might be sent over the subscriberlines 30. In such a case, the analog voice signals may be directlyrouted to the line cards 96, bypassing the TVRC modems 80, the digitalfilters 82, the controller multiplexor 84, and the TDM MUX 88. Thus,voice communication is ensured despite a failure of the digital dataline. The line cards 96 may convert the analog voice signals intodigital format (e.g., TDM format) and send the digitized voice data ontothe TDM bus 90 and eventually through the controller 92 and thefacilities interface 94 for transmission to one or more externalnetworks.

Referring to FIG. 4B, the NSP 36 may be variously configured to provideany number of services provided by a server such as informationservices, Internet services, pay-per-view movie services, data-baseservices, commercial services, and/or other suitable services. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 4B, the NSP 36 includes a router 185 having abackbone 180 (e.g., a fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) backbone)that interconnects a management server 182, an information/databaseserver 183, and/or one or more application server clusters 184. The NSP36 may be connected via the router 185 by a link 181 to one or moreexternal networks, NSPs 36, and/or an FMPs 32. The information/data baseserver 183 may perform storage and/or database functions. Theapplication server cluster 184 may maintain and control the downloadingof applets to the ISD 22. The NSP 36 may also include a voice/callprocessor 186 configured to handle call and data routing functions,set-up functions, distributed operating system functions, voicerecognition functions for spoken commands input from any of the ISDconnected devices as well as other functions.

Implementation of this new architecture allows for differentiation oflocal service, will provide new revenue streams from value-addedservices, and have the potential to significantly reduce operationalcosts. The architecture is constructed such that additional performancebenefits from the existing loop plant are extracted and maximizes use ofthe existing infrastructure and current systems.

The new architecture implements active services where the user triggersa stimulus by touch, voice or a combination of touch and voice commandsto obtain a network based response to expand traditional services aswell as provide entirely new services. These responses and theassociated services include call connection, information delivery,trigger network response, and performance transactions.

Call connection services provide for calls to be initiated by touchingicons corresponding to the called party. It also enables self schedulingof conference calls without the need for an operator as well asinitiation of interactive calls with white board augmentation. Classservices can likewise be invoked via icons and prompts in a naturalmanner without requiring memorization of numerical codes.

Information delivery services provide for a simple user interface thatenables data base and search engine technology (formerly accessible onlyto networked computers) to be leveraged for telephony services. Forexample, access to regional, national or international electronicinteraction with yellow and white page directories, navigation andaccess for voice, e-mail, and fax messages, review of AT&T bill forservices, review of AT&T calling plans, review of CLASS and otherservice offerings. Thus certain marketing, operator services, billing,and customer care functions can be accessed by the customer without theneed for an intermediate service representative, thus reducingoperations cost while increasing customer convenience. The screen phoneeliminates the need for an intermediary to call up information on ascreen and read it to the customer and streamlines customer access toinformation.

The trigger network response provides a screen interface that enablesthe customer to obtain operator services without accessing a humanoperator, obtain credit for wrong numbers automatically, view ratetables, self provision an AT&T Calling Plan or other CLASS services,conduct conference calls, or define a user profile for pointcast on a“ticker tape” that scrolls desired information on the videophone screen.

Performance transactions allows users via the videophone and itsassociated card swiper to enable users to perform transactions withsecurity protection. These transactions include paying regular billswith paperless transactions, perform electronic banking includingobtaining smart card cash in the home without the need to visit a bankor an ATM machine, conduct E-commerce, purchase products advertised ontelevision via a synchronized ordering screen. The electronic billpayment scheme not only benefits the user but allows the serviceprovider to obtain additional revenue by allowing those companies tooutsource bill payments to AT&T.

Passive services can also be offered so that active customer responsesare not required. These include advertising, providing electroniccoupons, personalized news delivery services, and access to communitynews such as school closings. Providing an advertising feed directly tothe customer premises equipment provides a new and potentially verylarge business opportunity to the local access network provider.Advertising can be displayed on the screen phone, whenever thevideophone is not in active use. User profiles maintained on the networkwould enable the advertisements to target customer interests, geographiclocation, demographics, or some other criteria.

Providing electronic coupons is another passive service opportunity. Theelectronic coupon can be displayed on the touch screen at appropriatetimes throughout the day (e.g., orange juice in the early morning) as“screen savers.” By swiping their smart card customers canelectronically collect such coupons and use them at the store withoutthe inconvenience of cutting them out of newspapers, etc. At the sametime AT&T participates in the coupon industry and has access to anotherrevenue stream.

Delivery of personalized news leverages diverse content assists in thecreation of user profiles. In addition, emergency broadcasts such asflash flood warnings, tornado, hurricane, etc., can be broadcastsimultaneously while other transactions are being performed. Thisservice could be offered as a public service.

The offering of interactive services include the combination of agraphics capable touch screen videophone, simultaneous voice and datacapability, and a high speed data line to furnish a superior userinterface than a traditional voice telephone and so enables a richcollection of new interactive services. These include multimediaenhanced voice calls, virtual PBX services, point and clickconferencing, intelligent call management, access to the Internet, and auniversal multimedia mailbox.

The multimedia enhances voice calls allows users to supplement voicecalls with whiteboard graphics or text. The multimedia format canprovide improved customer care, enhanced catalog ordering, interactivevoice, and data response application & info-on-demand, support forwork-at-home, virtual PBX services, point-and-click conferencing,intelligent call management, Internet access, and a universal mail box.

Work-at-home provides the capabilities of tying into private, corporateIntranets for secure and reliable connectivity with an employer, clientor customer. Virtual PBX services provide POPs for message/call alertingand graphical call management using a touch interface for callsetup/bridging capabilities. Point-and-Click conferencing provides agraphical user interfaces to initiate POTS calls. Intelligent callmanagement provides an easy, specified instructions to direct callmanagement including providing a personal registry and mobile managerfor a wireless connectivity, call scheduling, “call me back,” andpersonal assistant functions. The universal multimedia mailbox supportsvoice, text, audio, images integrated with a common interface.

FIG. 5 illustrates a diagram of the network server platform internalarchitecture. The network server platform 36 is connected into the SONETtrunks 40 and 42 via a fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) 202 withthe Stratus Continuum FTC 204, the information server/DBMS 206 and theHP K9000 28. The Stratus Continuum FTC 204 is a large computer thatmanages the switching and networking tasks. The information server/DBMS206 contains database information regarding signaling, switching,dialing plans, network configurations, customer information and callednumber information. The HP K9000 computer 208 manages the StratusContinuum FTC and the information server/DBMS 206. The Stratus Continuumand HP K9000 computer types are merely descriptive of the type ofcomputer that could be used to effectively operate the network serverplatform 36.

The NSP 36 is connected to a communications network illustrated by theSONET ring structure 195. Coupled to the SONET ring structure are otherFMPs 193. In addition, NSP 36 is coupled to other NSPs such as NSP 191.This redundant interconnectivity provides a fault tolerant system andoverall flexibility for coping with service interruption problems.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of the NSP 36 consisting of devicesand services used in the implementation of the new architecture.Connected to the SONET trunks 40 and 42 is a gateway 210. The gateway210 might also function as the router 185 that was previously discussed.Located around the FDDI ring 202 are the management server 182, theinformation database server 183, and one or more application serverclusters 184, as illustrated in FIG. 6.

The connection manager 214 initiates and terminates the placement oftelephone calls, while managing the services and messaging. In a typicalscenario, the connection manager 214 automates the calling process. Thisautomation involves the executing of computer commands to search recordsin the database server 218 to ensure that the customer is a subscriberto the desired service or that the called number is a subscriber to thedesired service. In addition, the connection manager 214 uses theoperations, administration, maintenance, and provisioning 216 to trackbilling information. After the connection manager 214 obtains therequired authorization, it launches the application 212 from theapplication server 220.

The OAM&P server 182 contains OAM&P management information 216consisting of data relating to configuration, capacity, fault, order,traffic activity, design, security, surveillance and testing of thenetwork. The information/database server 183 contains specific customerinformation such as user profiles, authorization levels of service,provisioning and electronic commerce. The application serve clusters 184manage and track information regarding computer boot operations andinitializations, call management, fault recognition and recovery,application binding, maintenance and design, application invoicing,craft interface enhancement, application downloads, translations, recentchange and verify (RC/V), authorizations and registrations,configurations and performance statistics.

FIG. 8 illustrates the software layer architecture for the applicationserver 184 and the operation, administration and maintenance (OAM)server 182. In both the application server 184 and the OAM server 182,the software layer architecture is the same. The operating system kernel250 contains a C application programmable interface 252 for interfacingwith communication, input/output and interprocess communication protocol(IPC). The data link, network, and transport layer contain middlewareincluding the C applications 252, C++ wrappers 254 and the adaptiveservices layer 256. The C++ wrappers optimize the C library functionsand the middleware puts intelligence into form object oriented programsin the transport layer to help application route upwards and downwardsin the protocol hierarchy. The session and transport layers containservice applications 260 and framework applications 258, respectively.The application layer contains the service/applications 262.

FIG. 9 illustrates protocol hierarchy for the application serverplatform software architecture. The physical layer includes theoperating system kernels 270 for fault tolerance, process/threadsubsystems, communication subsystems, and virtual memory subsystems. Thedata link layer contains the following C application programmableinterface sets 272: thread, stream, socket, name pipe, socket poll,dynamic link, memory map, and IPC. The network layer contains theoperating system adaption layer 274, the thread manager, synch wrapper,spipe SAP, socket SAP, FIFO SAP, MEM MAP, and IPC wrapper. The transportlayer contains the adaptive service executive 276 and the dispatch 278.The session layer contains the service acceptor 280, connector 282 andservice handler 284. The presentation layer contains application programinterface 286 and the application layer contains the traffic pipemanagement 288, the universal signal processing call processing system290, new service applications 292, dynamic user profile management 294,user interfaces 296, and the OAM&P services 298. These protocols use afault tolerant Unix language to make the transition between interfacestransparent.

FIG. 10 illustrates the protocol hierarchy for the OAM&P server platformsoftware architecture. The physical layer includes the operating systemkernels 300 for fault tolerance, process/thread subsystems,communication subsystems, and virtual memory subsystems. The data linklayer contains the following C application programmable interface sets302: thread, stream, socket, name pipe, socket poll, dynamic link,memory map, and IPC. The network layer contains the operating systemadaption layer 304, the thread manager, synch wrapper, spipe SAP, socketSAP, FIFO SAP, MEM MAP, and IPC wrapper. The transport layer containsthe adaptive service executive 306 and the dispatch 308. The sessionlayer contains the service acceptor 310, connector 312 and servicehandler 314. The presentation layer contains application programinterface 316. The application layer contains the database managementsystem (DBMS) 318, the OAM&P system services 320, the interactive userprovisioning 322, craft interface 324 and the HP OAM 326.

The OSS interface applications 328 are supported by the distributedservices access protocol 329. The distributed services access protocol329 is supported by the session layer distributed object services 330,the transport layer process services 332 and the network layer messagemanipulation and transport 334. These protocols also use a faulttolerant Unix language to make the transition between interfacestransparent.

FIG. 11 illustrates a diagram of a single NSP 36 connected to aplurality of FMPs that are in turn connected to a plurality of ISDs 22.The NSP 36 is connected to a communication network by trunk lines 40 and42. By tying into the communication network, the NSPs 36 can communicatewith each other and provide fault tolerant interaction should aparticular NSP experience service problems. For a particular NSP 36, aplurality of FMPs 32 are registered with that NSP 36. The correspondingISDs 22 connected to the registered FMPs 32 are also registered to theNSP 36. Because the NSP 36 recognizes the particular registered FMPs 32and ISDs 22, caching frequently accessed information as well asdeveloping user profiles can be stored at the NSP 36.

FIG. 12 illustrates the protocol hierarchy between the FMP and thenetwork. The SONET protocol 408 is used in the physical layer for bothshort term (option 1) and (long term option 2). In the short term, thedata link layer is supported by TR303 [410]. Eventually, the ATM 412protocol will replace TR 303 [410] in the data link layer. In the shortterm, the network layer is supported by Q.931 [414] for the transmissionof signaling information and G.711 (PCM) or G.722 [416] will support thetransmission of voice signals. In the long term, Q.2931 [418] willsupport signaling information and G.711 (PCM) or G.722 [420] willsupport the transmission of voice signals. In the long term, SAAL 422and ATM adaption layer 1 (AAL1) 424 supports the signaling and voicetraffic, respectively. The AAL is fully independent of the physicallayer, and converts higher-layer information, such as data packets, intoATM cells for transmission across the ATM network. At the receiving end,the AAL converts the cells back into the higher-layer information.

FIG. 13 illustrates the data protocol hierarchy between the FMP and thenetwork. At the host-to-network layer, TVRC, SONET protocols 426 or ATMprotocols 428 will be used for the transmission of data from the FMP 32to the network. In the Internet layer, out-of-band signaling isperformed by SAAL 430 and traffic is performed by AAL5 [432]. Also inthe Internet layer, point-to-point 434 and point-to-point tunnelingprotocol 436 is used to transport traffic as well as IP 438. In thetransport layer, traffic is supported by TCP 440.

FIG. 14 illustrates the protocol hierarchy for voice services (option 1)employing end-to-end ATM, from the ISD 22 to the PSTN 46. The ISD 22 isconnected to the FMP 32 by a self adaptive DSL 30 in the physical layer.The ISD 22, the FMP 32, ATM switch 449 and the local service office(LSO) 451 have their data link layer supported by ATM 444. The ISD 22and the LSO 451 have their network layer by AAL1 [446] and theirtransport layer supported by PCM 448. At the FMP 32, the data link layeris supported by ATM 444. Links from the ATM switch 449 to the FMP 32,the NSP 36 and the LSO 451, have the signaling aspects of theseconnections supported in the physical layer by Q.2931.

FIG. 15 illustrates the protocol hierarchy for voice services (option 2)employing the TR-303 interface. The data link layer 454 in both the FMP32 and the LSO 449 is supported by TR 303 across the local accessnetwork.

FIG. 16 illustrates the protocol hierarchy for data services employingpoint-to-point over ATM from the ISD 22 to the Internet backbone 50. TheISD 22 is connected to the FMP 32 by a self adaptive DSL 30 in thehost-to-network layer. The Internet layer at the ISD 22 is supported byIEEE 802.3 [466] and the transport layer is supported by IP 468. At theFMP 32, IEEE 802.3 [466] between the physical layer and the Internetlayer for connections between the FMP 32 and the ISD 22. For connectionsbetween the FMP 32 and the ATM switch 449, Q.2931 signaling is used.Between the FMP 32 and the ISP access node 460, a permanent virtualcircuit (PVC) 470 can be established to save bandwidth associated withcircuit establishment and tear down in those situations where certainvirtual circuits must exist all the time. When these conditions do notexist, a switched virtual circuit (SVC) 472 can be established todynamically establish a circuit on demand.

FIG. 17 illustrates the protocol hierarchy for data services using ATMsignaling. FIG. 17 is similar to FIG. 16 in that both PVCs 470 and SVCs472 can be established based on system requirements.

FIG. 18 illustrates the virtual private data network “Extranet” betweenthe FMP 32 and an access node 490 using point-to-point tunnelingprotocol. Point-to-point tunneling protocol wraps point-to-point packetsin an IP format and uses a layer three protocol. The flexibility ofpoint-to-point tunneling protocol allows the implementation to be clientinitiated or client transparent, but does require IP support. From theaccess node 490, users can connect to corporate private data networks492 to create a secure connection between the customer servicesequipment and a private network.

FIG. 19 illustrates the protocol hierarchy for establishing apoint-to-point tunneling protocol from the customer services equipmentto the private data network. The ISD 22 maintains a self adaptive DSLconnection between the customer premises equipment and the FMP 32.Between the FMP 32 and the access node 490, data is sent along the ATMbackbone via at least one ATM switch 449 in a switched virtual circuit(SVC) 472.

FIGS. 20 and 21 comprise service processing flow diagrams for thenetwork server platform (NSP) of the present invention; FIG. 20 showsfrom the time a user logs on to their personal computer (PC) or networkcomputer (NC) to the time a menu list of accessible services isdisplayed on their computer display; FIG. 21 shows service processingfrom the time the user selects an available service to the time eitherservice is allowed or denied.

FIGS. 20 and 21 comprise service processing flow diagrams for thenetwork server platform (NSP) of the present invention. FIG. 20 showsservice processing by the NSP 907 from the time a user logs on to theirpersonal computer (PC) or network computer (NC) 901 to the time a menulist of accessible services is displayed on the user's computer display.FIG. 21 shows service processing from the time the user selects anavailable service to the time either service is allowed or denied.Referring briefly to FIG. 1, the personal computer, network computer andother home devices CPE 10 interface to an Intelligent Services Director22 shown in FIGS. 20 and 21 as ISD 903. Further details describing theoperation of the ISD may be found in U.S. application Ser. No. (#32). Ata local serving office (LSO) or wire center is located a facilitiesmanagement platform 32 (FIG. 1) shown in FIGS. 20 and 21 as FMP 905.Further details regarding the operation of FMP 905 may be obtained fromreading U.S. application Ser. No. (#21). At a common carrier (tollcarrier) point of presence according to FIG. 1 is shown the networkserver platform 36 of the present invention referred to in FIGS. 20 and21 as NSP 907. An information service provider may have Internet ordial-up or other accessible information services provided from anywherein any network shown in FIG. 1 and is alluded to but not furtherdescribed in FIGS. 20 and 21 as ISP 909.

The service process is shown comprising steps 951 to 969. A keyindicator and service process arrow are shown at the left of FIG. 20 toshow service processing flow over time. A user at step 951 logs on totheir computer 901 and typically using a windows application and a mouseinitiates a browser enabled applet for retrieving user services. Forexample, an icon may appear on the user's computer display for servicelaunch. By clicking or otherwise selecting the icon, the user initiatesthe transmission of a request to network server platform 907 via step953. The request message comprises the user's identity and address sothat messages may be returned to the user and command data such as a oneindicating a command for returning available services. In particular,the message will suggest that the services be retrieved using a separatethread. By thread is intended a term suggestive of a link but is in facta virtual link that may be provided in various known ways andparticularly requires a slow speed or small bandwidth of datatransmission capability. Referring briefly to FIGS. 20 or 21, threadsare not as bandwidth intensive, for example, as a stream (data stream)or pipe.

The network server platform 907 now must operate internal softwarealgorithms for matching the identity of the user to available services.The services may be services to which the user has subscribed on a paybasis or services that are free, for example, and available over theInternet. At step 955, a user service servlet fetches a user profile forthe identified user and retrieves a list of services available to thatspecific user. In addition, new services that may have been provisionedvia the OAM&P may be determined for eventual announcement to the user.This step is shown as step 957.

A low speed data thread having been determined, at step 959, the list ofavailable and newly offered services customized for that user isprovided to the user that initiated the request at step 951. Finally atstep 961, a list of available services is displayed. The icon screendisappears and a new menu screen of listed available services isdisplayed for possible selection. These may comprise and are not limitedto, for example, the availability of connection to a corporate LAN orWAN for telecommuting. A telecommuting application of the presentinvention is described in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,540. Anotherapplication is information service provider (ISP) Internet access. AnISP access application is further described by U.S. application Ser. No.09/001,354. Another opportunity is for the user to view their servicebill and make payments, etc. An NSP Integrated billing system isdescribed in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/001,359. Telephone directoryfor either personal or commercial (white or yellow pages) listings isalso possible. The directory service application is further described byU.S. application Ser. No. (#29). Yet another service application is theavailability of home entertainment such as digital audio and/or videoprogram services via multicasting from a central network source. An NSPmulticast application is described by U.S. application Ser. No.09/001,580. Other services are likewise possible in a new and unique wayvia the Network Server Platform (NSP) of the present invention. Thevariety of the service opportunities are only limited by the imaginationof the service provider.

FIG. 22 shows a service processing flow diagram for providing a basicvoice service via the Network Server Platform of the present inventionwherein the user may identify the called party by audible name as analternative to dialing digits. FIG. 22 illustrates a systems andservices process flow diagram for a basic voice service. Basic voiceservice is well known from a local phone company or local exchangecarrier (LEC). What differentiates the present service flow process isthat service is provided by a common toll carrier bypassing the LEC andthe service may include voice or audible identification of the calledparty as an alternative to rotary or tone dialing. There are generallythree steps to LEC dialing that are simulated here: 1) provision of dialtone to indicate that the carrier is ready to accept called party nameor address identification (Steps 1051-1063), 2) name or address input,look-up and call setup (steps 1067-1071) and 3) call processing throughto connection to a called party (steps 1073-1079). Now the process willbe described in further detail, particularly in the context of a voicedialed call.

Across the top of FIG. 22 from left to right are shown the individualcomponents of the system of the present invention which are actuated andutilized in the present voice service processing. The phone 1001 is aplain old telephone shown in FIG. 1 as telephone 15 of CPE 10. The ISD1003 refers to intelligent services director (ISD) 22 of FIG. 1. The FMP1005 refers to the facilities management platform (FMP) 32 of FIG. 1.NSP 1007 refers to the Network Server Platform (NSP) 36 of FIG. 1. SLC1009 refers to subscriber loop carrier modified as necessary to providecall connect services and a voice carrying channel as required. LSO 1011refers to the local serving office of a toll common carrier such asAT&T. “Other user” 1013 refers to the local exchange carrier or othertermination for a called party's telephone.

At step 1051, a caller picks up the hand set of their telephone in orderto release the switch-hook which typically provides a connection tolocal battery. The step of signaling of an off hook indication to ISD1003 is represented by arrow 1053. The ISD 1003 of the present inventionterminates the telephone and performs the task of providing localtelephone battery power operation. The ISD 1003 recognizes that the userhas gone off hook at step 1055 and selects a voice channel to FMP 1005.The voice channel is a typical low bandwidth voice channel and itsallocation is shown as step 1057. Now the FMP 1005 signals the NSP 1007and request it to allocate a voice channel at step 1059. The NSP 1007refers to its circuit provisioning opportunities and availabilities andobtains a subscriber loop carrier channel for connection to a localserving office 1011. The NSP 1007 also returns a message to the FMP thata voice channel has been allocated within step 1059 and FMP 1005 sosignals the ISD 1003 at step 1061. The ISD 1003 provisions for the linkfrom the SLC 1009 to the phone 1001. The subscriber loop carrier system1009 either provides dialtone itself or couples with a dialtonegenerator at step 1063. The user at phone 1001 thus receives dialtonefrom a toll common carrier in a manner that simulates how the user wouldreceive dialtone from a LEC in a conventional manner.

Once steps 1051-1063 have been performed, the user is ready to identifythe called party. In a conventional manner, at step 1065, the user dialsa number. The dialed tone or rotary dial pulse entries are converted bythe ISD 1003 and transmitted as digital data for collection at SLC 1009.This dialed digit transfer is shown at step 1067. The collection ofdialed digits via the SLC 1009 is shown as step 1069. Then, the call isset up via the local serving office 1011 at step 1011.

On the other hand, perhaps the touchtone dial is broken or otherwiserefuses to operate or voice dialing is desired as a service feature.Voice dialing may be launched by any number of alternative means. Onemeans would be for the SLC 1009 to await dialed digits for a period oftime and then allow for voice commands. Another means might be toimmediately record voice received by the telephone mouth piece ormicrophone of telephone 1001. For example, the ISD 1003 may immediatelyor after a brief delay begin to digitize voice information, for example,via 64 kbps mu-law PCM data or other form of voice or audiocoding/compressing. The samples are then stored in a wave file of theISD 1003 for subsequent transmission to the FMP 1005, for example, overa signaling channel. On receipt, the FMP 1005 forwards the voice data tothe NSP 1007. The NSP 1007 may attempt to authenticate the request byensuring that the subscriber or user has subscribed to the service orprovides the service via, for example, a life-line emergency service.The NSP can determine the identify of the subscriber by looking at anaddress of an Internet Protocol (IP) field of a data message packet. TheNSP 1007 can therefore reconstruct (if compressed) and interpret theinformation in the wave files of the ISD 1003 and take the appropriateaction.

Let us assume that subscriber John wants to call a party Paul. Paul mayalready be identified in a personal directory for John by speechrecognition circuitry as is known in the art by training the speechrecognition circuitry. The NSP 1007 will attempt to determine who Paulis as defined by John in John's personal directory. A look-up tablecorresponds the spoken Paul to a directory number for Paul. Once thedirectory number for Paul has been determined by the NSP the equivalentof collecting dialed digits has been performed. The NSP 1007 can informthe FMP 1005 to set up a call to Paul's directory number. The FMP 1005then may use a TR303 signaling or other interface to signal and set up aconnection to Paul. The SLC 1009 receiving the directory numbersignaling from the FMP 1005 now is in the same position as it was atstep 1069 of FIG. 22.

Continuing now with FIG. 22, steps 1071-1079, at step 1071, the SLC 1009requests the LSO 1011 to select the appropriate ports to use for settingup the call to Paul. At step 1073 the local serving office will completethe regular voice call setup procedure. At step 1075, it rings thecalled party Paul. At step 1077, the local serving office 1011 detectsuser answer. Then a connection is established at step 1079 via the SLCchannel 1009 between John and Paul.

It is important to note that the alternative digital or voice dialingservice is being provided locally via the toll carrier's local servingoffice (LSO). There should be no need in the United States to pay forthe Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) for providing such services. Similarservices to voice dialing such as speed dialing, personal directorydialing and the like can now be made available locally by a toll commoncarrier according to the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a service process flow diagram for showing how the NSP inconcert with an FMP provides Internet service connectivity via, forexample, an Internet Service Provider's point of present (POP) usingAT&T's WorldNet Internet service as one example. FIG. 23, illustratesanother example of service connectivity by an NSP 36 as alreadygenerally described by FIGS. 20 and 21. In the application shown in FIG.23, any user may directly connect to an Internet service provider (ISP)at great bandwidth (bit rate) without having to connect via a localexchange carrier (LEC). The same convention as previously used withrespect to FIG. 10 is used here as well. Components of the system andservice architecture are shown at the top including personal computer(PC) 1101, intelligent services director (ISD) 1103, facilitiesmanagement platform (FMP) 1105 and network server platform (NSP) 1107.The Operations, Administration, Management and Provisioning server ofthe NSP 1107 is also shown as NSP OAM 1109. Finally, by way of example,a point of presence for an Internet service provider, namely AT&T'sWorldNet service, is shown as Wnet POP 1111.

As already described, bandwidth to the home or premises of a businessmay vary but may be in excess of 1 megahertz according to bandwidthallocation procedures followed by the ISD 1103 and FMP 1105. Thus, thereis a great advantage in a user having access to the Internetconnectivity feature shown in FIG. 23 because the user has greaterbandwidth availability and has immediate access to AT&T WorldNet, forexample, via NSP 1107 bypassing the LEC.

Initially, the OAM&P server of the NSP 1109 provisions the Internetconnectivity service by signaling and provisioning the FMP 1105 withaddress, routing and other data the FMP 1105 needs. Step 1151 isdirected to configuring the FMP 1105 serving the user of PC 1101 forInternet service routing to, for example, AT&T WorldNet Internet Servicepoint of presence 1111. As a result, the FMP 1105 updates its internalrouting table of its memory with provisioned routing data for routing toWnet POP 1111.

Assumed that a user has turned on their personal computer 1101 and wantsto establish an Internet session. As already described, one of theservices that may be offered the user as a menu display option isInternet service connectivity. The user clicks on or otherwise inputstheir selection of Internet service connectivity. The personal computer1101 via the ISD 1103 obtains immediate access to the alreadyprovisioned FMP 1105 at step 1157 as the user's Internet session begins.At step 1157, Internet protocol (IP) data packets are forwarded andreturned via the FMP 1105. The FMP 1105 now acts as a mini-server andperforms steps 1159. The FMP 1105 looks up the user's packet header andcompares the destination address against the routing table that wasprovisioned at step 1151. The routing table then provides routing datafor routing IP packets to, for example, AT&T WorldNet Internet serviceat Wnet POP 1111. Step 1161 suggests the routing of IP packets to theWnet POP 1111 and an exchange of packets that follows via FMP 1105 to PC1101. Note that the local exchange carrier is not involved and thebandwidth and data rate for exchange of Internet IP packets may be themaximum bandwidth permissible by the facility between the FMP 1105 andthe PC 1101. FIG. 23 similarly describes the process of routing to otherdestinations of a routing table of FMP 1105 that has been provisioned byNSP OAM 1109. For example, besides serving as a gateway to the Internet,the NSP may provide a gateway to applets from a JAVA based server forsuch things as bill paying, utility meter reading, energy management,security services for any connected device (for example, a device at acustomer premises (other than a personal computer) such as theVisionPhone described earlier or other device.

FIG. 24 is a service process flow diagram for showing how the NSP inconcert with an ISD provides a bill viewing and paying service via, forexample, a billing server such as an AT&T billing server as one example.FIG. 24, illustrates another example of service connectivity by an NSPas already generally described by FIGS. 20 and 21. In the applicationshown in FIG. 24, any user may directly connect to a billing server thatmay be one for a utility, a bank, a credit card company or othercreditor where an AT&T billing server is shown by way of example withouthaving to connect via a local exchange carrier (LEC). The sameconvention as previously used with respect to FIG. 22 is used here aswell. Components of the system and service architecture are shown at thetop including personal computer (PC) 1201, intelligent services director(ISD) 1203, facilities management platform (FMP) 1205 and network serverplatform (NSP) call processing server 1107. The Operations,Administration, Management and Provisioning server of the NSP is alsoshown as NSP OAM 1209 but is not otherwise described below. Finally, byway of example, a billing server is shown by way of example, namely anAT&T billing server 1211. One advantage of the present invention is thata billing server may comprise a clearing house for a plurality of bills.For example, an AT&T billing server 1211 may provide a bill viewing andpayment opportunity for local phone service, toll phone service,Internet (for example, AT&T WorldNet service), digital audio and videoprogram delivery services and other information and communicationservices.

As already described, bandwidth to the home or premises of a businessmay vary but may be in excess of 1 MHZ according to bandwidth allocationprocedures followed by the ISD 1103 and FMP 1105. Nevertheless, a billviewing and paying service does not require the bandwidth in eitherdirection of data transmission as, for example, would be required forproviding video conferencing. Referring to FIG. 24, the user from theirpersonal computer, intelligent telephone or video phone 1202 requests abilling viewing and paying service as already described generally byFIGS. 20 and 21 at step 1251. Typically the user has selected an icon(for bill viewing and paying services) on a display screen by clickingon the icon. The ISD 1203 in response transmits a request message forthe service to the NSP 1207 at step 1253. The message as alreadydescribed must contain a service identifier, for example, BILLING. TheNSP call process server 1207 responds to the message by looking tointernal algorithms for billing services. In the internal algorithms itmay be determined that a secure billing channel is required. As a resultof the billing service look-up, then, the NSP CP 1207 downloads a secureviewing applet at step 1255 to the personal computer or other terminal1201. The personal computer then may recognize that security is requiredfor the service and may choose to secure, for example, by encryption orother means any future communications. The NSP 1207 and the PC 1201 mustbe sure that each other understands the security provisions put in placeby each. Each device must know how to decrypt each other'scommunications by exchange any security keys and the like. Once thedownload is complete at step 1257, a transaction may be initiated. Itmay be assumed that communications within the AT&T network are secure,but communications over the local loop or other facility connecting thePC or other terminal 1201 with the NSP 1207 remote from the PC may notbe as secure.

It may be assumed, by way of example, that a user has requested AT&Tbill viewing and payment service. The transaction with the AT&T billingserver then is initiated at step 1259 by the terminal 1101 signaling theNSP CP 1207. The interface with the AT&T billing server 1211 may be byany convenient method to the toll carrier service provider. Again, thechannel is secure, within or outside the toll carrier network and may beprovided with or without encryption security. At step 1263, the bill isrequested and data returned at step 1265 to the NSP which converts thereceived data as necessary for eventual display or other use by theuser. Preferably, at step 1267, the user will be able to interact withthe bill viewing service by viewing any portion of the bill the userwants and may communicate and question any billing item of any serviceprovider. Also, the user may arrange to pay the bill by providing, forexample, AT&T universal or other credit card information or otherpayment option such as direct debit from a bank account.

FIGS. 25 and 26 each show service process flow diagrams for providingtelecommuting services from the home; FIG. 25 is a service process flowdiagram for showing how the NSP 36 in concert with an ISD 22 provides atelecommuting service via, for example, an employer's office serverusing a frame relay backbone to interconnect the office server and ahome terminal and FIG. 26 shows a similar service process flow diagramfor using the Internet to interconnect an office server and a hometerminal.

FIGS. 25 and 26 each show service process flow diagrams for providingtelecommuting services from the home. FIG. 25 is a service process flowdiagram for showing how the NSP 36 in concert with an ISD 22 provides atelecommuting service via, for example, an employer's office serverusing a frame relay backbone to interconnect the office server and ahome terminal. FIG. 26 shows a similar service process flow diagram forusing the Internet to interconnect an office server and a home terminal.Home/office telecommuting is yet a further example of serviceconnectivity by an NSP as already generally described by FIGS. 20 and21. In the application involving a frame relay backbone as shown in FIG.25 or in the Internet connect mode of operation shown in FIG. 26, anyuser may directly connect to their employer's office server. Theemployee may connect to their office server without having to connectvia a local exchange carrier (LEC). The same convention as previouslyused with respect to FIG. 22 is used here as well. In FIG. 25,components of the system and service architecture are shown at the topincluding personal computer (PC) 1301, intelligent services director(ISD) 1303, facilities management platform (FMP) 1305 and network serverplatform (NSP) 1307. In FIG. 26, the same components are indicatedprefaced by the figure number, for example, the facilities managementplatform is shown as FMP. In FIG. 25, a frame relay point of presence isshown as FR POP 1309. In FIG. 26, an Internet service provider point ofpresence is shown, for example, an AT&T WorldNet point of presence, asWNET POP 1409. In FIGS. 25 and 26, the employer office server is shownas Office SVR 1311 and 1411 respectively.

As already described, bandwidth to the home or premises of a businessvary but may be in excess of 1 megahertz according to bandwidthallocation procedures followed by the ISD 1303 or 1403 and FMP 1305 or1405. In connections to the employer office server 1311/1411, it isdesirable to achieve the greatest bandwidth or data rate possible. Theemployee would like to have the same access and data rate as if theemployee were in fact at the location of the user's employer. In eitherconnection of FIGS. 25 and 26, the maximum bandwidth may be achieved butmay not be guaranteed in one case (FIG. 26).

Now referring to FIG. 25, the frame relay backbone approach to employeetelecommuting will be discussed. While not particularly shown butsuggested by FIG. 1 is the access via the NSP 36 to a frame relaybackbone network off ring 42. A frame relay POP 1309 is not shown butmay be provided off, for example, a SONET OC-48 ring network 42. Now anemployee user of the present network service actuates telecommutingservice by selecting, for example, a telecommuting icon from a menustructure displayed as a result of the process of FIG. 20. At step 1351,then, the user starts up the present telecommuting application by, forexample, pointing to a telecommuting service icon and clicking or otherselection means. It may be further assumed that the service may beidentified by the service identifier “office”. The service clicking andselection for an employer office connection is delivered to the ISD 1303at step 1353. The ISD 1303 at step 1355 forwards an office servicerequest message to NSP 1307 via FMP 1305. At step 1307, the networkserver platform performs a number of tasks. Firstly, the NSP 1307validates the identity of the user forwarded to it by ISD 1303. The userhaving been validated by look up table, the user profile is retrievedshowing what routing and other information is available for this user'srequest for LAN telecommuting service. The look-up process in NSPdatabases should show the accessibility to an office server 1311associated with the user at personal computer or other terminal 1301and, most importantly, that there exists a preconfigured connectionbetween the FMP 1305 and the office server 1311 via a frame relay POP1309. The NSP 1307 then provisions the FMP 1305 via step 1359 to provideresources such as LAN resources for reaching the office server 1311.Then a return message is provided by the FMP 1305 to the NSP 1307acknowledging that the FMP is set up at step 1361. Once the NSP issatisfied that the FMP 1305 is ready, the NSP 1307 arranges at step 1363to set up a private virtual circuit to the Office Server 1311 via FR POP1309. Steps 1365 and 1367 show the establishment of a virtual circuitlink between FR POP 1309 and Office SVR 1311. Once the PVC is set up,then an acknowledgement is returned by the FR POP 1309 to the NSP 1307at step 1369. The NSP 1307 then forwards a service grant message to ISD11303 at step 1371. Finally, the ISD 1303 signals the home terminal thatthe path is ready at step 1373. Now a communications link exists betweenthe PC/ISD/FMP/FR POP/Office SVR. The user of terminal 1301 can begin tolog in to the corporate LAN as if they were on site at step 1375. Theconnection is shown at step 1377 and assumes a high bandwidth connectionat the maximum bandwidth the corporate LAN will allow.

Advantages of a frame relay POP mode of connection to an Office Server1311 are that the connection is secure from intrusion and private to theuser. Also, the bandwidth between the user and the corporate LAN isguaranteed. Of course, the guaranteed bandwidth comes at relatively highexpense compared with Internet access and requires a preconfigured framerelay connection.

Referring now to FIG. 26, an Internet connection to an employer officeserver 1411 will be described. First, as before, the user indicates apreference for obtaining a telecommuting service by actuating an inputsignal at their terminal 1401 at step 1451. Steps 1453 and 1455 aresimilar to steps 1353 and 1355 but for the fact that NSP 1307 hasprovisioned the FMP and so the ISD to arrange for an Internet connectionto an Office SVR 1411 either as an alternative to a frame relay POPconnection or in place of the frame relay mode. Consequently, at step1457, the step proceeds as before but for the selection of a connectionpath which now involves an Internet connection path. Steps 1459 and 1461proceed as before except that a PPTP protocol is set up at step 1463 fordata traffic to the office server. The FMP 1405 then tries out PPTP toand from the Office SVR 1411 via, for example, AT&T WNET POP 1409 atsteps 1465 and 1467. If everything is ok, the FMP 1405 signals the NSP1407 that the FMP is ready to communicate with the Office server 1411via PPTP. The NSP replies by outputting a service grant to the ISD 1403saying it is ok to begin telecommuting service via the Internet. At step1473, the final step of the path to the terminal or PC 1401 iscomplemented and user can begin to log on to the corporate LAN at step1475. Again, the maximum bandwidth is provided via Internet service thatInternet service provides but the bandwidth cannot be guaranteed asanother user at a premises where PC 1401 is located may take somebandwidth away. The service may be slow. Also, with Internet, there us alot of packet overhead (extra bits that are not necessarily needed forinformation transfer). Yet, the connection will be complete andreasonably close in service quality to a user of a corporate LAN that ison site at step 1477. The Internet approach is inexpensive and requiresminimal initial configuration.

FIG. 27 is a service process flow diagram for showing how the NSP inconcert with an ISD at a user's home and via an FMP serving that userprovides white and yellow pages directory services including homeshopping and dialing services.

FIG. 27 illustrates another example of service connectivity by an NSP asalready generally described by FIGS. 20 and 21. In the application shownin FIG. 27, any user may directly access white (private) or yellow pages(commercial) directory services at required bandwidth (bit rate) withouthaving to connect via a local exchange carrier (LEC). The sameconvention as previously used with respect to FIG. 22 is used here aswell. Components of the system and service architecture are shown at thetop including intelligent terminal, video phone or personal computer(PC) 1501, intelligent services director (ISD) 1503, facilitiesmanagement platform (FMP) 1505 and network server platform (NSP) 1507.

As already described, bandwidth to the home or premises of a businessmay vary but may be in excess of 1 megahertz according to bandwidthallocation procedures followed by the ISD 1503 and FMP 1505. Thus, thereis a great advantage in a user having access to the directory servicesfeature shown in FIG. 27 because the user has greater bandwidthavailability and the user may immediately access directory services, forexample, via NSP 1107 bypassing the LEC, and additional services andconnections may be provided via the NSP (also bypassing the LEC) forhome shopping, banking by phone, obtaining directions to a destinationand the like as will be further discussed below.

Initially, the OAM&P server of the NSP 1505 provisions the directoryservice availability by signaling and provisioning the FMP 1505 with itsaddress, routing and other data the FMP 1505 needs. The NSP itself 1507has already been described as comprising a large database of data thatmay provide according to the present application at least localdirectory (both telephony and Internet) address/directory numberservices. Moreover, the NSP comprises significant caching memory andaccess to remote NSP's and other directory databases from which it mayobtain further directory data.

Initial step 1551 of the service process flow diagram of FIG. 27 isdirected to configuring the FMP 1505 to configure the ISD 1503 servingthe user of PC 1501 for directory service routing to NSP 1507. As aresult, the FMP 1505 updates its internal routing table of its memorywith provisioned routing data for routing to NSP 1507 and for providingservice via ISD 1503 to a particular user of terminal 1501.

Now, in step 1553, it may be assumed that a user has turned on theirpersonal computer 1501 and wants to establish a directory session. Asalready described, one of the services that may be offered the user as amenu display option is directory service connectivity. The user clickson or otherwise inputs their selection of directory serviceconnectivity. The message forwarded as a result of directory service canbe the name, address or other indicia to be looked up. Also, a secondcolumn of the display may provide the desired output which may bedirectory number of Internet address but may also comprise, for example,directions for driving to a store nearest the user. The personalcomputer 1501 sends a lookup message with one or more of these requeststo the ISD 1503 at step 1555. The ISD 1503 in turn obtains immediateaccess via the already provisioned FMP 1505 at step 1557 to the NSP 1507where the local directory is located. The NSP 1507 now acts as aninformation database service provider and performs steps 1559. The NSP1507 looks up the user's requested data and determines if it can providethe requested information itself. If NSP 1507 cannot provide therequested data look-up itself, it determines routing for a databasehaving the requested information, collects the information and storesthe information in cache memory for forwarding to the user along withany locally provided database information requested. Step 1561 suggeststhe return of the directory lookup result to the ISD 1561 forpresentation to the user. Depending on the terminal, for example, thepersonal computer 1501, the ISD 1503 causes the result to be displayedat step 1563. Along with the result, the display may provide immediatedialing opportunity for a telephony directory number or immediate accessto an Internet addressed web site.

For example, the user may wish to obtain a white pages listing for TomJones. The user may not know the city. The NSP 1507 may provide adirectory service that identifies all individuals named Tom Jones in ageographical area such as the state of New York for possible review andselection. The user may continue to provide information until theselection process is narrowed to the Tom Jones that the user wishes tolocate. Once the result of the search is narrowed sufficiently to wherethe user may make a choice, the choice may include a hot spot for animmediate connection. Moreover, Tom Jones may be located, not only athome, but at his work phone, cellular phone, pager, personal computer,facsimile machine or other number or web site.

In another application, the user may be trying to locate a drug storenearest them. The user inputs the request. Because the NSP receives dataregarding the user's identity, the NSP further has access to a userprofile including a home address. Consequently, using appropriatealgorithms known in the art, the NSP 1507 locates the nearest drugstore, the next nearest and so on for the user to chose one. Moreover,the display may provide essential information input by the drug storesuch as hours or operation. The hours of operation may be used as afilter to eliminate possible drug stores that in fact are not presentlyopen at the user's request. The user may select to call the drug storeof their choice and/or obtain directions from their home to the drugstore.

In accordance with the directory look-up feature, the user may makerepeated requests for the same or additional information. Moreover, oncethe user receives the directory look-up result, the result may providehot spots or clicking selection opportunity to directly access thedirectory look-up result, for example, by telephony or the Internet atthe highest bandwidth permissible or desirable. Thus, the directorylook-up may be the first step toward home shopping, bank from home andother services. Note that the local exchange carrier is not involved andthe bandwidth and data rate for exchange of Internet IP packets may bethe maximum bandwidth permissible by the facility between the FMP 1505and the PC or other terminal 1501.

FIG. 28 is a service process flow diagram for showing how the NSP inconcert with an ISD at a user's home and via an FMP serving that userprovides multicast audio and/or video program services or software, gameand other program information delivery services. FIG. 28 illustratesanother example of service connectivity by an NSP as already generallydescribed by FIGS. 20 and 21. In FIGS. 20 and 21, the present service isindicated in shorthand by the suggestion that the present service islike BlockBuster Video (™), being able to receive movies or video gamesat home without having to go to the store to bring home the video orother program for play on a player. In the application shown in FIG. 16,any user may directly access multicast program services at requiredbandwidth (bit rate) without having to connect via a local exchangecarrier (LEC). Pay-per-view, pay-per-listen, pay-per-play and otherprogram delivery services may be provided from one or distributed sitesfrom which the programs are multicast. Referring to FIG. 1, briefly, themulticast programs are receivable at any NSP 36 within reach of theSONET ring network 42. Moreover, the NSP 36 comprises a database withprogram availability and routing information.

In describing the multicast program services application of FIG. 28, thesame convention as previously used with respect to FIG. 10 is used hereas well. Components of the system and service architecture are shown atthe top including intelligent terminal, video phone or personal computer(PC) 1601, intelligent services director (ISD) 1603, facilitiesmanagement platform (FMP) 1605 and network server platform (NSP) 1607.

As already described, bandwidth to the home or premises of a businessmay vary but may be in excess of 1 megahertz according to bandwidthallocation procedures followed by the ISD 1603 and FMP 1605. Thus, thereis a great advantage in a user having access to the multicast programservices feature shown in FIG. 16 because 1) the user has greaterbandwidth availability and 2) the user may immediately access multicastprogram services, for example, via NSP 1607 bypassing the LEC.

Initially, the OAM&P server of the NSP 1607 provisions the multicastprogram service availability by signaling and provisioning the FMP 1605with its address, routing and other data the FMP 1605 needs. The NSPitself 1607 has already been described as comprising a large database ofdata that may provide according to the present application routinginformation needed for periodically receiving data from remote multicastserver locations regarding availability to the user and routinginformation for receiving multicast programs. As is well known in theart, multicast audio and video programs may be provided in compressedformat such as MPEG compressed format or other compression format. Thecompressed program is decompressed preferably at the terminal 1601. Onthe other hand, if the terminal is not so equipped, decompressionalgorithms may reside in the ISD 1603.

Initial step 1651 of the service process flow diagram of FIG. 28 isdirected to configuring the FMP 1605 to configure the ISD 1603 servingthe user of terminal or PC 1601 for multicast program routing to NSP1607. As a result, the FMP 1605 updates it internal routing table of itsmemory with provisioned routing data for routing to NSP 1607 and forproviding multicast program services via ISD 1603 to a particular userof terminal 1601.

Now, in step 1653, it may be assumed that a user has turned on theirpersonal computer or other terminal 1601 and wants to establish amulticast program session. As already described, one of the servicesthat may be offered the user as a menu display option is a multicastprogram delivery service connectivity. The user clicks on or otherwiseinputs their selection of multicast program service connectivity. Themenu screen displayed as a result of the multicast program service canbe tables of indicia to be looked up. For example, you know you want tosee a movie starring Jimmy Stewart. You also know it is a Christmasmovie. Using various selection algorithms within the design skills ofone in the art, the selection may be narrowed to the well-known movie“It's a Wonderful Life” starring Jimmy Stewart about Christmas. Also, asecond area of the display may provide the desired output which may bedirectory number of Internet address with information about the moviebut may also comprise, for example, directions for driving to a movietheater nearest the user if the user wishes to see the movie at atheater instead of at their home terminal.

At step 1653, the user makes a selection of a video or other programtitle. As already described the program title may comprise a movietitle, an audio album or song title and the like by program, title andartist or a game program or software program for download. At step 1655,the program title selection is forwarded to the ISD 1603. The ISD 1603then formats a service request message describing the program to bedelivered and service identifier data such as data representing a VIDEOservice. The message is transmitted from the ISD 1603 via the FMP 1605serving that ISD 1603 at step 1657 to NSP 1607.

At step 1659, the NSP 1607 validates the user and the requested serviceand obtains the user's profile from database memory. The user profilemay provide the user's home address for locating a movie theater nearestthem playing the desired movie or certain predetermined movie or otherprogram preferences that can be used as a guide. Then, the NSP searchesits database for movie or other program routing data to access themulticast program source and seek a download of the compressed programdata.

Meanwhile, the NSP 1607 seeks the needed bandwidth for the programdelivery service. Of course, audio program, software and game downloadsmay require less bandwidth than video. At steps 1661 and 1663, the NSP1607 seeks to establish the necessary bandwidth at the FMP 1605 forreceiving the needed resources. The FMP needs to assure a channel havingthe bandwidth required is available from the terminal or PC 1601 to theFMP 1605. The FMP 1605 then returns bandwidth and resource availabilityok or not ok data to the NSP 1607.

If the movie is available on multicast and the bandwidth is available,then the NSP can issue a serviceGrant message for the desired videoservice to the ISD 1603 at step 1665. The ISD 1603 then signals thereceiving device which may be a television, a recorder/player, apersonal computer, a video phone, home theater center or other terminalor collection of terminals 1601 that it is ready to provide the serviceat step 1667. The final play connection is shown at step 1669.

FIG. 23 is a service process flow diagram for showing how the NSP inconcert with an FMP provides Internet service connectivity via, forexample, an Internet Service Provider's point of present (POP) usingAT&T's WorldNet Internet service as one example. FIG. 29 is a serviceprocess flow diagram for showing how the NSP may comprise cache memoryand maintain a user profile such that the NSP may obtain informationfrom various information service providers for forwarding and display toa user in accordance with their user profile.

FIG. 23 illustrates another example of service connectivity by an NSP asalready generally described by FIGS. 20 and 21. In the application shownin FIG. 23, any user may directly connect to an Internet serviceprovider (ISP) at great bandwidth (bit rate) without having to connectvia a local exchange carrier (LEC). The same convention as previouslyused with respect to FIG. 10 is used here as well. Components of thesystem and service architecture are shown at the top including personalcomputer (PC) 1101, intelligent services director (ISD) 1103, facilitiesmanagement platform (FMP) 1105 and network server platform (NSP) 1107.The Operations, Administration, Management and Provisioning server ofthe NSP 1107 is also shown as NSP OAM 1109. Finally, by way of example,a point of presence for an Internet service provider, namely AT&T'sWorldNet service, is shown as Wnet POP 1111.

As already described, bandwidth to the home or premises of a businessmay vary but may be in excess of 1 megahertz according to bandwidthallocation procedures followed by the ISD 1103 and FMP 1105. Thus, thereis a great advantage in a user having access to the Internetconnectivity feature shown in FIG. 23 because the user has greaterbandwidth availability and 2) immediate access to AT&T WorldNet, forexample, via NSP 1107 bypassing the LEC.

Initially, the OAM&P server of the NSP 1109 provisions the Internetconnectivity service by signaling and provisioning the FMP 1105 withaddress, routing and other data the FMP 1105 needs. Step 1151 isdirected to configuring the FMP 1105 serving the user of PC 1101 forInternet service routing to, for example, AT&T WorldNet Internet Servicepoint of presence 1111. As a result, the FMP 1105 updates its internalrouting table of its memory with provisioned routing data for routing toWnet POP 1111.

Now, it may be assumed that a user has turned on their personal computer1101 and wants to establish an Internet session. As already described,one of the services that may be offered the user as a menu displayoption is Internet service connectivity. The user clicks on or otherwiseinputs their selection of Internet service connectivity. The personalcomputer 1101 via the ISD 1103 obtains immediate access to the alreadyprovisioned FMP 1105 at step 1157 as the user's Internet session begins.At step 1157, Internet protocol (IP) data packets are forwarded andreturned via the FMP 1105. The FMP 1105 now acts as a mini-server andperforms steps 1159. The FMP 1105 looks up the user's packet header andcompares the destination address against the routing table that wasprovisioned at step 1151. The routing table then provides routing datafor routing the IP packets to, for example, AT&T WorldNet Internetservice at Wnet POP 1111. Step 1161 suggests the routing of IP packetsto the Wnet POP 1111 and an exchange of packets that follows via FMP1105 to PC 1101. Note that the local exchange carrier is not involvedand the bandwidth and data rate for exchange of Internet IP packets maybe the maximum bandwidth permissible by the facility between the FMP1105 and the PC 1101. FIG. 21 similarly describes the process of routingto other destinations of a routing table of FMP 1105 that has beenprovisioned by NSP OAM 1109. For example, besides serving as a gatewayto the Internet, the NSP may provide a gateway to applets from a JAVAbased server for such things as bill paying, utility meter reading,energy management, security services for any connected device, forexample, a device at a customer premises (other than a personalcomputer) such as the VisionPhone described earlier or other device.

Referring now to FIG. 29, there is shown yet another example of serviceconnectivity by an NSP as already generally described by FIGS. 20 and21. In the application shown in FIG. 29, any user may enter andperiodically update a user profile showing their interests andpreferences. The NSP 1707 comprising significant cache memory can searchfor and obtain information directly related to the user enteredpreferences. When the user actuates their personal computer, the usermay obtain the collected information that the NSP has collected on theuser's behalf. The same convention as previously used with respect toFIG. 10 is used here as well. Components of the system and servicearchitecture are shown at the top including personal computer (PC) ornetwork computer (NC) or other terminal 1701, intelligent servicesdirector (ISD) 1703, facilities management platform (FMP) 1705 andnetwork server platform (NSP) 1707. Info #1 1709 and Info #2 1711 areshown by way of example as one or more information service providersthat the NSP 1707 may access for information. Finally, by way ofexample, AT&T information content servers as a group are shown as AT&TContent Servers 1713.

At step 1751, the personal computer, intelligent terminal, video phoneor other terminal 1701 performs system/service initialization. Without auser profile, the service will not be able to retrieve any relevantinformation. There is a startup via a user interface applet, forexample, by clicking on a user profile icon. Then, the user is presentedwith a user profile display or other input means for inputtinginformation contents of interest to the user. The contents ultimatelymay refer to channels whereby the information can be obtained, forexample, stock market ticker or sports ticker channels. Likewise, thecontents may simply define a preference such as to information directedto genealogical research of an ancestor or hobby or scientific interestsor pursuits.

At step 1753, the user profile for selected contents (informationchannels) is transmitted via the ISD 1703 and FMP 1705 for storage atthe NSP 1707. The NSP 1707 then updates the user profile at step 1755that is presently stored in memory or initializes the user profile inmemory. The NSP 1707 then, once the use profile is known, can begin tosearch for relevant information at any and all information sourcesavailable on SONET ring network 42 (FIG. 1). The NSP 1707 then forwardsan auto-start Info Receiver applet to the PC/NC 1701 for display, forexample, as a menu selectable item or an icon or the like. Whenever theuser accesses that applet, the collected information for their userprofile is pushed to their terminal at step 1771.

However, prior to an information to terminal dump at step 1771, the NSPcollects information from various sources at step 1761, 1763 and 1765.The access to the information source may be via private line, sharedline, Internet or telephony channels. For example, at step 1761 theinformation contents of Info #1-1709 relevant to the user profile isdownloaded and stored in cache memory of NSP 1707 for that user toidentify themselves and access. At step 1763, the information contentsof Info #2 1711 relevant to the user profile is downloaded and stored incache memory of NSP 1707 for the same user. Only two information sourcesare shown but many information sources may be queried and the queryresults downloaded to NSP 1707. Finally, via AT&T or other Internetservice provider, the respective information content servers may bequeried for relevant information and or channels (virtual or physical)realized and provided to NSP 1707. These may include stock markettickers, sports tickers, new tickers and the like of current interest.At either NSP 1707 or personal computer or network computer 1701,information filters may be used to only retrieve current data withrespect to, for example, the stock portfolio or sports teams of interestto the user. Moreover, the NSP 1707 must periodically update the cachememory with newly received information relevant to the user's requests.A new information source may appear on the Internet or as a telephonelisting or a new sports or other channel may be identified to NSP 1707for polling. This is shown as step 1767.

In summary, then as shown at step 1769, the NSP 1707 caches contentsfrom different sources (including from itself—for example—localdirectory listing and geographical location finding services). The NSPalso polls contents from various sources to, for example, obtain updatesor new information. At a user specified time interval or according to auser specified schedule as per their user profile, and according to auser specified priority ranking, the information may be ordered anddelivered to the user via an information push at step 1771.

To illustrate the interaction between the various components of theinstant invention, a voice dialing scenario will be described. When auser picks up the telephone and dials a series of numbers, after aperiod of time in which no additional numbers are entered, theintelligent service director 22 will start digitizing the voiceinformation into 64 Kbps μ-law PCM data. The samples are then stored ina wave file, which is subsequently transmitted to the facilitiesmanagement platform 32 over a signaling channel. In receipt by thefacilities management platform 32, the facilities management platform 32will forward the information to the network server platform. The networkserver platform will attempt to authenticate the request by ensuringthat the subscriber does indeed have a subscription to the voice dialingservice.

The network server platform can determine the identity of the subscriberby looking at the address in the IP field of the packet. The networkserver platform 36 can therefore interpret the information in the wavefiles and take the appropriate action. Let us assume that a first userwanted to call a second user. The network server platform 36 attempt todetermine who the second user is as defined by the first user. Once thetelephone number for the second user has been determined, the networkserver platform 36 will inform the facilities management platform 32 toset up a call to the second user. The facilities management platform 32will then transmit a signal over the trunk lines requesting the secondusers local office to inform the NSP 36 the appropriate ports to use forsetting up the call. The facilities management platform 32 has its ownDTMF and tone generator which is used for signaling.

Note that there is a significant advantage implicit in the design. Thevoice dialing service is being provided locally and there is no need topay for the local exchange carrier (LEC) for providing such a service.Similar services, such as speed dialing, that the LEC provides can nowcan be made available locally.

When an incoming call arrives from the PSTN, the facilities managementplatform 32 will obtain the signaling information from the modifieddigital loop carrier. The information will be dispatched over thesignaling channel to the NSP 36. The NSP 36 will instruct the FMP 32with information regarding call set up, connection and termination. Onreceiving this message, the FMP 32 will send the appropriate signalingmessage to the ISD 22. The ISD 22 knows the phones that are in use andthose that are available for service.

While exemplary systems and methods embodying the present invention areshown by way of example, it will be understood, of course, that theinvention is not limited to these embodiments. Modifications may be madeby those skilled in the art, particularly in light of the foregoingteachings. For example, each of the elements of the aforementionedembodiments may be utilized alone or in combination with elements of theother embodiments.

We claim:
 1. A method for providing user access to a plurality ofdifferent communication networks comprising the steps of: receiving asignal from an access module containing information regarding a requestto connect said user to a particular one of said communicationsnetworks; verifying said request to connect said user to said onecommunication network for authorization to initiate said connection by asystems management server; initiating or denying said user access bysaid systems management server; if said user access to said onecommunications network is granted, launching by said systems managementserver applications supporting said user access; and launching by saidsystems management server operations, administration, maintenance, andprovisioning tools to support said user access, wherein said systemsmanagement server is accessible by a plurality of user access modulesand is coupled to said different communications networks via asynchronous optical ring.
 2. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein saidsystems management server applications include downloading of applets tosaid access module.
 3. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein saidsystems management server applications include downloading ofapplications.
 4. A method for providing user access to a plurality ofdifferent communication networks responsive to signals sent from one ofsaid plurality of different communication networks comprising the stepsof monitoring a user access module from a monitoring platform coupled toa terminating end of a digital subscriber loop, said monitoring platformbeing coupled to a synchronous optical ring; receiving said signals by asystems management server from said one communication network where saidsignals contain information regarding setting up a connection betweensaid user serviced by said systems management server and saidcommunication network; processing said signals by said systemsmanagement server to determine if said user is authorized and availablefor said connection; and if said user is authorized and available forsaid connection, said systems management server setting up saidconnection by sending said signals to said access module supporting saiduser.
 5. A method for providing access to a user responsive to signalssent from one of a plurality of different communication networks asrecited in claim 4 wherein said systems management server comprises avoice/call processor, a connection management processor and a pluralityof databases, at least one of said databases comprising user specificdata for verifying user access to said one communication network.
 6. Amethod for providing access to a user responsive to signals sent fromone of a plurality of different communication networks as recited inclaim 4, wherein said access module is coupled between user premisesequipment and a twisted wire facility operating as a digital subscriberloop.
 7. A method for providing access to a user responsive to signalssent from one of a plurality of different communication networks, saidmethod comprising the steps of receiving said signals by a systemsmanagement server from said one communication network where said signalscontain information regarding setting up a connection between said userserviced by said systems management server and said communicationnetwork; processing said signals by said systems management server todetermine if said user is authorized and available for said connection;and monitoring a digital subscriber loop from a monitoring platformcoupled to said user during said processing step; and if said user isauthorized and available for said connection, said systems managementserver setting up said connection by sending said signals to an accessmodule supporting said user.
 8. A method for providing access to a userresponsive to signals sent from one of a plurality of differentcommunication networks as recited in claim 7 wherein said systemsmanagement server comprises a voice/call processor, a connectionmanagement processor and a plurality of databases, at least one of saiddatabases comprising user specific data for verifying user access tosaid one communication network.
 9. A method for providing access to auser responsive to signals sent from one of a plurality of differentcommunication networks as recited in claim 21 wherein said access moduleis coupled between user premises equipment and a twisted wire facilityoperating as a digital subscriber loop.